Exxon's Baytown, Texas refinery gasoline unit shut for another month

5/9/2019

The small gasoline-producing unit at Exxon Mobil Corp’s 560,500 barrel per day (bpd) Baytown, Texas, refinery will be shut for at least another month of repairs to a fire-damaged hydrotreater, said Gulf Coast market sources.

The 90,000 bpd gasoline-producing Fluidic Catalytic Cracking Unit 2 (FCCU 2) was shut by a March 16 fire on Hydrofining Unit-9 (HU 9), which removes sulfur from the gasoline.

Exxon spokesman Jeremy Eikenberry declined to comment.

The company is building a new heater for HU 9, which was severely damaged in the March 16 fire. The new heater is not expected to arrive for a month, the sources said.

Exxon attempted to partially restart HU 9 in April, but according to the sources, operating one processing train on the unit was not possible.

The company also canceled plans to operate FCCU 2 without HU 9. Without HU 9 removing sulfur from the gasoline produced by FCCU 2, the gasoline will not be in specification for sale, the sources said.